In The News

India's Diamonds Lose Their Luster

Neeta Lal February 5, 2009
Hit by gloomy news of global recession, consumers sharply curtailed purchases of luxury goods, putting millions of jobs in jeopardy. It took India four decades to position itself as a world leader in processing diamonds, reports Neeta Lal for the Asia Sentinel, but recession in the US reduced demand by 60 percent."The industry had been witnessing exponential growth for over two decades,...

British Unions, Angry Over Use of Foreign Workers, Stage Walkouts

John F. Burns February 3, 2009
British labor unions have organized walkouts to protest skilled construction jobs going to workers from elsewhere in the European Union. “The disruption underscored rising fears of labor unrest across Europe – and renewed pressure from unions for a retreat from the European Union’s rules on open labor markets – as job losses across the Continent mounted into the hundreds of thousands with the...

A Time of Troubles and Protest

January 30, 2009
More than 2.5 workers throughout France rallied behind a one-day strike, urging the government to protect jobs and wages. But as slumping sales and global recession have closed factories, policies and protests fail to address severe inequality that leaves some workers with secure jobs and benefits and many others, particularly among the young, without. In France, the government has focused on...

Outsourcing’s Appeal Grows During Volatile Times

Melanie Rodier January 23, 2009
The purpose behind most outsourcing is to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Firms can go to agencies that provide specialized and time-limited support in investor reporting, analyst research, legal research, regulatory oversight or information technology. “Outsourcing providers often invest in the latest technology, offsetting the expense by sharing the technology among several clients,”...

Exporting People

Joseph Chamie January 21, 2009
In coming decades, a population rise in developing nations is projected to greatly surpass expected population declines among developed countries. Some developing nations that lack industry and ample jobs forestalled poverty by devising policies that encourage citizens to work abroad. That strategy has helped reduce poverty by bolstering domestic employment, individual skills and foreign exchange...

Mobiles Give Africa's Farmers the Chance to Set Out Their Stall

David Smith January 9, 2009
The African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref) and its partner Farm-Africa in Katine has developed a strategy that aims to empower the farmers of Katine in northeast Uganda by providing them with cell phones. Although cell-phone growth has exceeded initial estimates, Uganda still lags behind the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo where mobile subscriptions far exceed fixed-line...

The End of a Gilded Age

Harold James January 6, 2009
Waves of globalization are characterized by intense innovation, along with increased wealth, productivity and consumption, notes Princeton professor Harold James in an opinion essay for the Baltimore Examiner. Agriculture gave way to manufacturing, manufacturing gave way to services, and services gave way to online interactions, and James notes that “In each case, a dramatic crisis created the...